A second day of rain had us debating whether to stay and risk a good soaking or take an early drive home, but we thought we’d see whether the coastal weather differed to that 10 miles inland before giving up. We arrived at Cley beach car park to find that rain had given way to a thick mist and perhaps rashly opted to walk Blakeney Point in the damp and murk of the day.
Setting off
Sea Pink and a boat called Blue
As always the shingle made walking very hard work but we made
our way along, taking in the wild flowers, Terns, nesting Oystercatchers and
Avocets on the way. We made note of a colour ringed Avocet, Red over Black (left)
& Yellow (right) and saw the female Red-backed Shrike at just a little over
half way along.
Shelducks in the dunes
Shoe find - odd and more than a bit creepy
In the dunes we came across some large groups of Shelduck, nesting
in rabbit holes and a peculiar arrangement of footwear ( rubbish or art – we weren’t really sure).
We continued to the point whereupon we suddenly found
ourselves in school holiday land as several families with young children, newly
disembarked from the boat, fractured the natural sounds with excited shouts and
screams.
View from the point
After a brief scan across the water we retreated the way we had come
up and stopped to check out some mature tamarisks and the rather grandly named
plantation, a collection of diverse bushes and small trees, finding a Spotted
Flycatcher and Willow Warbler.
The plantation
Spotted Flycatcher
On the
walk back, we saw another Spot Fly and 4 more Willow Warblers. We later found
out that we’d missed the male Red-backed Shrike and two Wrynecks from the
previous day but really didn’t mind considering the poor visibility and strong
wind that had affected conditions for much of the day. At least we didn't get wet!